It’s almost time to take flight once again. Today Bandai Namco announced the release date of the next installment of the highly anticipated Ace Combat franchise, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve will release on October 2nd 2026. The game will also get an early access release of September 29th.
Wings of Theve will continue the Ace Combat storyline, set years after the events of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. The year is 2029 and the Federation of Central Usea (FCU) has been invaded by the Republic of Sotoa. With the military in shambles one pilot, a legendary ace known as “Wings of Theve” give the FCU hope. The problem is, Wings Of Theve is made up to boost morale. You as the player are given the tag and told to become that ace pilot to save the FCU.
Every trailer and dev diary we’ve seen since the game was first announced last year at the Game Awards has looked fantastic, and the newest trailer today looks incredible as well. Today’s trailer showed a lot more of the aerial combat we can expect to see which is looking better than ever.
We also see a lot of the characters at play in the campaign. As mentioned in previous trailers and dev diaries, inbetween missions players will be able to walk around the Endurance ship as Rex, getting more backstory about all the characters and enhancing their experience with the story.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve will be available for Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5 and Steam on October 2nd 2026. Also as a pre-order bonus, anyone who does pre-order will get a digital version of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War for free.
